


nemesis

by skai_heda



Category: Avatar: The Last Airbender
Genre: Alternate Universe, Character Death, F/M, Friends to Enemies to Lovers, Heavy Angst, Not Compliant with Avatar Comics, Post-Canon, Unrequited Love, War, not zuko or katara dont worry
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-09-14
Updated: 2020-09-14
Packaged: 2021-03-06 16:06:45
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,041
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26241619
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/skai_heda/pseuds/skai_heda
Summary: nine meetings on a beach during the end of the world.
Relationships: Katara/Zuko (Avatar)
Comments: 3
Kudos: 63





	nemesis

Their story starts rather simply. It starts with two figures standing with toes curling in sand, one fair and one dark. They are not touching, but it feels as though there is no space between them.

The girl turns to look at her companion, who watches the water thoughtfully. "I hate the water," he admits to her, hands hanging loosely at his sides.

"But you love the beach," she answers.

"That's true," he sighs. "But the ocean itself? Not exactly my thing."

The girl laughs. It makes the boy smile, but he doesn't let her see. 

They're still children here, in these fleeting blinks of time. They've lived through a lot, but they still don't really know much about the world, about how much it could hurt them, how much they haven't seen.

For now, they just get to be two children on a beach. For now, they're lucky.

* * *

**i**

* * *

Unrest has begun to stir by the time they find their way back to the beach, not quite adults, but not quite children, either. Eighteen and sixteen are still too young to have felt the stinging kiss of reality. 

"There might be a war," the boy says to the girl. They are sitting closer together than they had been last time. 

"There won't be," the girl argues. She is drawing patterns in the sand, legs stretched so that the water might touch her toes. The boy keeps knees hugged firmly to his chest. "Aang won't let it happen."

"There's only so much Aang can do," the boy says.

"He's stopped a war before."

"Yeah, after it went on for a _hundred_ years."

The girl is silent for some time.

"What will we do if there is a war, Zuko?"

Their eyes meet. 

"I don't know," he says.

* * *

**ii**

* * *

They are no longer children when they meet again on the beach, but they will always be the boy and the girl on the beach. 

She doesn't look like a girl anymore, though, and he doesn't look like a boy. No, their eyes are too somber, shoulders too slumped. But it disappears, when they're with each other. Unlike the last couple of times, their friends are not with them. They are alone.

They talk about the war. They take sides, and their sides are different.

That unsettles them a little, but they are not worrying. They know that whatever happens, they fight together. They have always disagreed, but they don't ever worry. They always stick together, whether they like it or not. They would never fight on opposite sides of a war.

They don't know that they love each other, but they know they'd never hurt each other.

"Are we good?" the girl asks.

"Why wouldn't we be, Katara?"

The girl shrugs, looking down. "We've don't usually disagree."

The boy scoffs. "We argue about things all the time."

"Yeah, but not about stuff like this."

The boy reaches across the minimal space between them to take her hand, though their fingers remain just slightly stiff. "We're always on the same side in the end, though. Right?"

"Right."

They both assume the side in question is their own.

* * *

**iii**

* * *

It has been years since they have come to the beach. The world has been thrown into war again, and they—

They are no longer on the same side. Both of them wonder if they had ever been on the same side.

Four years. Twenty-five and twenty-three.

He sees her first, standing on the beach. Alone. 

It's not a good idea to do that during a war, but the beach is neutral territory.

The girl angles her head, and her eyes land on him.

They should kill each other right there. That's how war works. Two bodies in the sand, hands outstretched, reaching for each other in the last moments.

The boy turns away. She is as much of a ghost to him as he is to her.

* * *

**iv**

* * *

Two years. Twenty-seven and twenty-five. A peace treaty, and in a cruel twist of fate, Katara and Zuko are sent to meet each other.

"You came alone," Zuko says in surprise when he sees her.

"I came when I knew it was you," she tells him.

He shakes his head. "How did you know?"

"The beach. You asked to meet at the beach."

They sit. The waves crash against the shore, never touching them.

"I trusted you," she tells him.

"And I trusted you," he replies, hands curling into fists. "I thought you and I would—I thought we'd fight together no matter what."

"This isn't the time to discuss personal matters," Katara declares abruptly, making Zuko narrow his eyes in anger. "I'm here to negotiate."

 _"Negotiations?"_ he splutters. "Katara—"

"I just want this to be over," she tells him. 

"And what happens after it's over? What happens to us?"

She would get up and leave if she could. She would say she doesn't care about the damn treaty, that she wants nothing more than to run as far away as possible. But that's not how war works, and that's not who she is.

"Who know, Zuko?" Katara says softly. "Why don't we finish this and find out?"

She lists her terms. Zuko lists his.

They are too different. Of course they are. 

There will never be peace. 

"It will be easier for everyone if you just surrender," Zuko pleads, reaching out as if he might touch her, as if they are still friends. "This can all be over."

"Do you have _any_ idea how much suffering you caused?" Katara screams at him. "How many people are dead because of your side?"

"Your side isn't short on casualties either," he replies, his voice tight with barely controlled fury. "Don't take the moral high ground, Katara. There is no moral high ground here."

Tiny pieces of glass scattered around the place in the sand where Zuko had put his palms. Katara's suddenly exhausted, longing to fall into his arms and cry until her body breaks.

"You won't agree?" Zuko asks her.

"No."

That is all.

* * *

**v**

* * *

Two years later, she sobs by the sea, clutching her stomach as her tears drip onto the sand. She shouldn't be here, not where it is so easy for someone to kill her. But she is, and she is alone. The Avatar is dead.

Katara and Aang had not been married or even together for a long time, but he had been her best friend. And now he's gone, just like that. 

She should be out searching for the next Avatar. She should be getting the child to safety, put him or her out of the war's reach. But she's frozen in place, crippled by grief.

Katara isn't Toph—she can't sense the gentle footsteps in the sand. But after a point she can feel someone approaching, and she's past the point of caring. So what if she lives or dies? She won't outlive the war. Not with Aang dead.

"Katara."

She looks up at the ocean, but not at the person behind her. "You better leave now, Zuko. Unless you're planning to kill me or take me hostage."

"What makes you think I'd ever hurt you?" 

Katara rises to her feet to face him. He is as beautiful as ever, the sun casting a golden glow across his face. "Was that a serious question?"

He reaches for her then, but draws back, thinking better of it. "Please, Katara. I just wanted to apologize and pay my respects."

"Pay your respects?" she spits. "It's your fault Aang's dead."

He flinches. "It's not my fault. I didn't know—"

"So _what?"_ Katara yells. "Your side always wanted the Avatar dead—"

"They didn't—"

"And they finally got what they wanted!"

Zuko shakes his head, pressing his hands into his eyes. "We didn't kill Aang, alright? It was an accident on your end."

Katara stumbles back. "You're lying."

He looks as though he might cry. "I don't lie to you."

"You do," she murmurs. "You're lying to try and make me forgive you, and you've gotten good at it. I guess the talent for lying runs in the family."

His lips part at that statement and he takes a step back. "I'm not like Azula."

"Aren't you?" Katara replies.

He shakes his head vigorously. "You don't mean it, Katara. You don't mean any of it. You know the signs. You've been suspecting that it wasn't our fault."

She shakes her head. He's right—he always is, in the end. He has reached into her soul, and he has pulled the truth from her as easily as one would read a book.

"I bet you're going to find the next Avatar now," Katara says quietly, desperate to change the subject. "I bet you'll raise her to fight your war."

Zuko tilts his head to the side. "Wouldn't you have done the same?" he asks, his expression pinched as if he's afraid of the answer.

"Of _course_ not," Katara spits. "Why would you ever think—"

"I didn't," he snaps. "And we already found her. We won't get her involved, alright? She'll be removed from the whole situation."

Katara shakes her head.

"She looks just like you," Zuko says quietly. "She has your eyes."

And some invisible tether snaps within her and she's lunging towards Zuko, screaming as she does. Katara tackles him into the sand, her fist connecting with his jaw. _"Why would you say that?"_ she screams, her tears dripping onto his face. _"WHY WOULD YOU SAY THAT?"_

Tears drip onto the sand. His, hers. It never mattered.

"I loved him, too," Zuko tries to tell her in between blows that he makes no move to block. "He was like my brother. I loved him, Katara."

All the fight goes out of her as she looks down upon Zuko's face, patches of blue and purple accompanying the dark scar by his eye. Katara climbs off of him, limbs trembling. 

"I never want to see you again," she tells him. It's a lie, it was always a lie.

He rises to his feet, slowly, unsteadily. "I'm sorry, Katara."

And then he's gone.

* * *

**vi**

* * *

On the first anniversary of Aang's death, she comes back to the beach.

And she's not the only one with that idea.

"Will you ever forgive me?" Zuko asks her, the two of them watching the ocean.

"I want to," she answers. "All I want is to forgive you." She catches sight of the way Zuko's expression lifts. "It's not the same as forgiveness."

"Do you really think it's my fault Aang is dead?"

Katara swallows. "No. It's not your fault."

They stand there for a long time.

* * *

**vii**

* * *

Two years later, the war ends. No surrender, but it's over. The world has grown tired and weary of war, and now people bask in the short moment of shaky clarity before humanity inevitable takes hold again.

At the beach, Zuko finds her, hands hanging loosely at his sides. Neither of them know where they stand with each other. 

The boy loves the girl. The girl loves the boy. It is simple at the heart of it, but it was never simple in general.

How can they love each other after all that has happened?

Zuko sits next to Katara, as close as they used to. She doesn't make any move to touch him, but she doesn't shy away. Forgiveness is not linear, but forgiveness is theirs.

* * *

**viii**

* * *

He kisses her. She kisses him back. They are angry and sad and they are alive. There's going to be sand in their hair and all over their body by the time they're done, but pieces have slowly begun to fall into place. They have not said it yet, but they are in love. They are in love, and forgiveness is theirs.

* * *

**ix**

* * *

They get married on the beach. Katara wears purple. Zuko wears white. Their friends are there, and there is a chair deliberately left empty for Aang, the only one of their friends who couldn't be there.

Katara has lived through two wars. She has lived through too many losses.

There was no good side or bad side. There was only Zuko and Katara, and what they would do.

She kisses him. Forgiveness is theirs.

**Author's Note:**

> there's a japanese legend that says you have the face of who you loved in a past life. this is why the next avatar has katara's face.
> 
> comments and kudos are cool !!


End file.
